The Guardian reported that Ben Duke's The Last Hamlet is now showing at Sadler's Wells East in London, with the production described as a reworking of Shakespeare's story that takes considerable liberties. In this version, Hamlet is attempting to arrange a hire car. He has missed his father's funeral after attending a silent retreat, where he has been confronting abandonment issues, alongside an unsettling recollection of a school disco in Year 7 when his uncle and mother danced together to Yazoo's Only You. Duke, who performs and directs, co-founded Lost Dog. The Guardian noted his history of giving familiar works a new interpretation, following earlier treatments of Paradise Lost, Romeo and Juliet and the Medea myth. His approach involves reworking classic texts, mixing in present-day references, surreal changes of direction and humorous lines. While this could be seen as a recurring formula, the Guardian described the result as hard to predict in advance.
Source: The Guardian.
